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Historian Kengor shines a light on a deeply troubling aspect of American history: the prominent role of the dupe. Packed with stunning revelations, "Dupes" shows in frightening detail the extent to which U.S. adversaries exploit the American homefront.

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Editorial Reviews

Book Description

In this startling, intensively researched book, bestselling historian Paul Kengor shines light on a deeply troubling aspect of American history: the prominent role of the “dupe.” From the Bolshevik Revolution through the Cold War and right up to the present, many progressives have unwittingly aided some of America’s most dangerous opponents.

Based on never-before-published FBI files, Soviet archives, and other primary sources, Dupes exposes the legions of liberals who have furthered the objectives of America’s adversaries. Kengor shows not only how such dupes contributed to history’s most destructive ideology—Communism, which claimed at least 100 million lives—but also why they are so relevant to today’s politics.

Dupes reveals:

Shocking reports on how Senator Ted Kennedy secretly approached the Soviet leadership to undermine not one but two American presidents

Stunning new evidence that Frank Marshall Davis—mentor to a young Barack Obama—had extensive Communist ties and demonized Democrats

Jimmy Carter’s woeful record dealing with America’s two chief foes of the past century, Communism and Islamism

How Franklin Roosevelt was duped by “Uncle Joe” Stalin—and by a top adviser who may have been a Soviet agent—despite clear warnings from fellow Democrats

How John Kerry’s accusations that American soldiers committed war crimes in Vietnam may have been the product of Soviet disinformation

The many Hollywood stars who were duped, including Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Katharine Hepburn, Gene Kelly—and even Ronald Reagan

Soviet records that demonstrate beyond doubt the Communists’ expansionist aims and their targeting of American liberals, especially academics and the Religious Left

How liberals still defend the same Communists who trashed Democratic icons like Woodrow Wilson, FDR, Harry Truman, and JFK—and still attack the anti-Communists who tried to spare them from manipulation

Packed with stunning revelations, Dupes shows in frightening detail how U.S. adversaries exploit the American home front.

About the Author

Paul Kengor, Ph.D., is the New York Times bestselling author of God and Ronald Reagan, The Crusader: Ronald Reagan and the Fall of Communism, and several other books. A professor of political science and the executive director of the Center for Vision and Values at Grove City College, he has written for the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and Political Science Quarterly, among other publications. Kengor has appeared on Fox News, MSNBC, NPR, C-SPAN, and many other outlets.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

Paul Kengor, an established historian and tireless researcher, has produced an amazing historical tale of one of America's most important actors in the last century: the dupe. Though the title may sound inflamatory, the research is rock-solid and of the highest academic caliber. Both sides of the political ailse can pick up this book learn an incredible amount of American history.

Communism did not know any national boundaries in the 20th century; nor does radical Islamic ideology in the 21st. As such, Dr. Kengor recognizes the overarching effect of "the dupe" across party lines in America. There was not one cookie-cutter type of dupe as Kengor relates in the book. There were those who were duped for ideological reasons, political reasons, and even those who recognized they were being used - yet persisted in their actions. Kengor's point is that people need to seriously re-examine history in light of the revelations in this book about how some of the most important people in American history have acted towards America's enemies and how, in return, America's enemies have used them.

I can't emphasize how impressed I was when I looked at the endnotes of this book. Students of history will appreciate the fact that nearly all of the sources used in this book are primary! A rare find for an academic book these days! The author gives everyone, those who will agree and disagree with him, the chance to look at publicly available sources and draw their own conclusions. As a result, I could hardly disagree with any of his conclusions. I have studied this period of history extensively and was genuinely shocked by some of the revelations in this book (the ones about Jimmy Carter, Ted Kennedy, and America's early Progressives come immediately to mind).Read more ›

Professor Kengor's latest scholarly, thoroughly documented work, based upon recently released Soviet archives and FBI files, provides powerful evidence of how a number of American liberals directly contributed to the advancement of world-wide Communism - doubtless history's deadliest ideology, ultimately claiming more than 100 million lives. For some, that contribution was deliberately made - with the hope that Soviet communism would eventually overtake the west. For others, it resulted from an astonishing naivete, along with a willingness to ignore clear evidence, sometimes observed with their own eyes. These latter accomplices are the "dupes" of the title - leftists used by the Soviets and other communists to spread their deadly ideology to the west.

Professor Kengor shows how some, but by no means all, of these "dupes" eventually came around to see - if not outright reject - the destructiveness and danger of the Soviet menace, iconic academics like John Dewey among them. Interestingly, Kengor puts to rest some of the right's recent misgivings about Woodrow Wilson - no dupe he - and shows Wilson to have been a strongly committed anti-communist long before others realized the extent of the threat the west faced once Lenin seized Russian power.

Importantly, Kengor's research makes clear that the Soviet Union's world-wide ambitions during the cold war were every bit as real, powerful and extensive as the anti-communists of the period had claimed - and that the anti-anti-communists were, at best, misguided, irresponsible and blind to what was going on all around them.

Finally, as evidenced by some of the more disturbing passages, this book is not merely some exploration of ancient history.Read more ›

This is not the first book to examine the itellectual development of the left(Mona Charen's "Useful Idiots" and Paul Hollander's "Political Pilgrims", also Flynn and Sowell). Books like this are important for two reasons. First, so called progressives have inflicted gargantuan costs in pursuit of their idealistic visions. The loss of prosperity and lives in the past is tragic, but irreversible. These costs are, of course, is water under the bridge- a sunk cost. Second, and more importantly, too many people have failed to learn from the past failure of 20th century utopianism. We are living with the legacy of past ideological-political influences. The Soviet Union is gone, but its influence persists in the minds of self-described progressives.

There are a few surprises in this book, especially where Woodrow Wilson is concerned. Not every "progressive" was a dupe! Some of the most telling parts reveal the CPUSA for what it really was.

Kengor deserves credit for continuing the historical investigation of Soviet influence on the beliefs and actions of some Americans. Critics will accuse him of bias in his interpretations of the facts, but there is still plenty of interesting history in this book. Read it and decide for yourself.

Dr. Kengor, through much fact sifting, proves why he is an authority on communist era history. From before the cold war up to now, he relates the use of "dupes" through the liberal progressive movement to advance the communist agenda in the United States. Dr. Kengor writes in an understandable style, and walks you through his points like he is instructing one of his classes.